Those were supposed to be the stories of the day, along with what other heroes arose in an eventual 7-3 win by the Yankees.

Instead, attention was focused on a piece by Fox’s Ken Rosenthal stating the Jays’ contract offer to Ervin Santana was the direct result of restructuring some current contracts to help pay the Dominican free-agent $14.1 million for 2014. The source was other player agents.

The deferment story has not been denied by Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, which begs some questions that could change the perception of the club’s ability to add talent.

Did the players go to Anthopoulos, or did Anthopoulos approach the players? Was he ever going to make a final Santana offer on his own in March? Has Rogers ownership told Paul Beeston and Anthopoulos they cannot add payroll for 2014 and is that why they needed to borrow from players?

“I believe the Royals and Jeremy Guthrie restructured his (existing) contract, so it’s happened,” Anthopoulos said while skating around the real question. “Any time it does happen that gets announced to the media, to everybody. You have to file contracts. They’re made available to everybody.”

Guthrie signed a three-year deal with the Royals on Nov. 20, 2012, then restructured it on Jan. 13, 2014, reducing this year’s salary from $11 million to $8 million and adding a 2016 mutual option for $10M, with a $3.2M buyout. Clearly, the Jays would have given back all money to players.

“No (players) can restructure for money or something like that without getting any tangible benefit back,” Anthopoulos explained. “So I know the story’s out there, but like I mentioned earlier, the takeaway is that I felt we had an agreement in place. (Santana) was prepared to come here. We had the dollars. How we choose to structure those dollars, those are things that we keep in house. If Kris Medlen (of the Braves) hadn’t been hurt, Ervin Santana would be here today.”

Who was behind the deferment plan? The strong belief is that since day one of the five-year extension between Anthopoulos and Jose Bautista, the two men, who both admit to having taken a risk in signing the deal after Bautista’s breakout season, have been committed to bringing a winner to Toronto. Last September, Bautista told the Star he would participate in recruiting if Alex asked.

The conduit to the other players willing to defer 2014 salary thus was likely Bautista. Prior to the Braves entering the bidding for the free agent, the three players most vocal about bringing Santana aboard — when it seemed to be a battle between just the Jays and O’s — were the trio of Bautista, Jose Reyes and Edwin Encarnacion. They are friends of Santana’s in the Dominican and wanted him here.

The other wealthy Jays believed to be in on the Santana deferment plan, as first reported by Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, were pitchers R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle. The five combined will earn $69 million in 2014. That Santana money would have been repaid with the appropriate interest.

The fact that many of the players were already friends with Santana and the deal was seemingly in place when Santana balked would have made it even more stunning for Anthopoulos when the Braves matched the offer, winning the war. Anthopoulos at first refused to talk about the Santana defeat until the player went public, then he came out with guns blazing. He feels betrayed to this day.

“(Santana) reached out to us and said this is where he wanted to be,” the fifth-year GM said. “He had a lot of strong relationships with guys on this team and this is where he wanted to be on a one-year deal. We were prepared to go and get a deal done. Having an agreement in place and having a deal done are not the same thing. It didn’t have anything to do with years. It didn’t have anything to do with dollars. We had enough money to have a deal in place. How we structure it, I don’t think the fans care.”

The fans did care, and obviously so did Rogers ownership. Has ownership lost faith in Paul Beeston’s and Anthopoulos’s judgment when it comes to increasing payroll to add talent? It seems so. Have the players lost faith in Anthopoulos’ ability to build a winner? That’s a stretch. Whatever it takes.

Last season the Jays proved that sometimes you need to spend money to make money. Even without a winner on the field, Jays management was delighted and giddy after the Marlins trade, then the Melky Cabrera signing and the Dickey deal. It seemed there was no limit to what they could spend as they bumped payroll to an all-time high. The fans responded, buying huge amounts of new blue gear, travelling well, taking over ballparks and making Jays’ road games home. Even Rogers believed.

A year later, they’re borrowing from players to pay other players. Not good. If ever there was a sign that front office heads are on the block, reputations on the line, this is it. On CBC radio, Beeston repeated his mantra that “the club would spend more on payroll when fans could produce more revenue.” If the Jays are not contending at the trade deadline, Anthopoulos may be looking to dump salaries to create some flexibility for 2015.

As for extending Colby Rasmus? Is it even possible?

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